I am aware that a common complaint about restaurant critics is that they stop writing about food. All may well be fine in the first few months as it seems rather fun writing about napkins and demi-glaces as compared with their previous gig in row 3 of the Paris catwalk shows or adjuding the merits of the new breed of hot hatches. And then the novelty wears off and our critic begins to use their column as an excuse to rant about parking restrictions in Chelsea, hoodies or to deploy the column as a means to wooing the mystery Brunette with whom he seems to enjoy so many meals on the paper's tab.
All this is to say that I am aware that I have been straying away from food a bit recently and I can really understand how critics veer towards the confessional because there really are only so many times you feel you can use certain food-appropriate adjectives. I'll get to the food soon, but I must tell you about my encounters with French ravers in London this weekend. I was on a bus yesterday and the guy in front of me was talking in ze verr strrrong Franche acczent about going to ze afftteerrr parrrrrrty in Breeexton, and today I gave some directions to a woman who spoke about five or six words of English. What is remarkable about these words is that she only just managed to get across her question about finding Swinton Street, but on being told where it was, thanked me with a "Beeeeegggggg Urrrrrrrrrpppppp!" with accompanying double thumbs-up. Allez les ravers!
At the time I was walking towards Borough on one of my favourite London routes which takes in Clerkenwell, Smithfield, St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge, before ending up at Neal's Yard. Now I've bigged-up the service there in an earlier post but I really will be surprised if anyone can beat them in the service category in my end of year/end of blog awards. What is really remarkable about the places - especially given the assholness of many of their customers, one of whom kept budging me in the back in the queue - is that every server there is super friendly and knowledgeable and that they insist that you try every cheese before you buy, plus generous portions of all those that you end up not buying. I had my heart set on cheeses that were new to me and only partly managed this with some Adrahan, Cashel Blue, St Gall and Brie de Meaux, plus a little slice of membrillo, and some bomb-weight granary bread from Flour Power. Tasting notes follow:
Adrahan: [pictured] an Irish farmyard stinker. Like all the cheeses at NY this was in great condition and much riper than the example pictured. I'm not sure that it did anything special for me because it was simply a medium-strong version of this type of cheese and not really unique in any way.
Cashel Blue: I requested a 'creamy blue' and although I've had Cashel Blue many times I went with the server's suggestion and he was not wrong. Warm and ripe this is a really exceptional cheese with a fine mix of creaminess to saltiness and without the excessive, gritty acridity that I think mars many blues. I think my all-time fave has to be Cornish Blue which has a buttery-creaminess, but Cashel Blue is a solid cheese.
Brie de Meaux: NY famously only stock three or four foreign cheeses [list here, all I can see are mozzie, parmigiano, feta and the brie: http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/thecheeses.html#] and as I had been thinking about brie quite a lot lately I decided to go for this and it did not disappoint. It is quite a rustic example of a brie with an impressive pong after an afternoon in the sun. They describe it as having a vegetabley taste and that is quite accurate.
St Gall: An Irish appenzell-style cheese which I liked a lot. It was rather like a fruity version of a good emmenthal, and I believe that this fruity character comes partly from the rind being soaked in wine or cider.
Brindisa membrillo: top-notch stuff and a a great complement to the St Gall in particular. Many things go with cheese - red wine, good bread, Carr's biscuits, chutney with some - and membrillo is definitely a winner with hard cheeses and it worked pretty well with the brie too.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR LOCAL READERS OF THIS BLOG (I.E. TWO THIRDS OF MY READERSHIP OF THREE): I have plenty of the cheeses left and plan to spend another evening with them very soon, to which you're invited.
From the market I then tracked up to Angel by tube to pick up some plums and damsons for pudding. This really is a super time to be fruit and veg shopping in the market because there's so much variety, prices are cheap and the quality is super-high. I can't remember having had damsons before and these Kentish ones are very nice but they can't beat the Victoria plums.
Well, it took a while but I got to the food in the end and I hope that you have coped with my inconsistent attitude towards blogging in recent months. I know that writing about non-food stuff is a function of having left facebook, but the good news is that I really feel like writing at the moment, so let me leave you now with my phrase of the day: Beeeeggggg Urrrrrrrrrp!
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